Thursday, November 3, 2016

I have personally fought the ELD mandate every step of the way since I was the chairperson of the Minnesota Trucking Association in 2012. I never believed that professional truck drivers should be mandated to have an electronic log. If they choose to, that is a different story. Forcing them is un-American. What an insult to a group of professionals.

The reality of what this mandate is going to cost our small company is keeping me awake at night and stressing me out beyond words. Back in about 2009 I started doing some research on these things they called “electronic on-board recorders” or EOBRs. I couldn’t believe we were getting prices in the $200 to $300 per unit range.

I thought that was ridiculous. So we backed off and stuck with our paper logs; they worked just fine and cost way less.

Then the word “mandate” came about, and I really backed off. The last thing our small company needs is to be forced to buy a product we cannot afford. Our drivers also voiced their concern, saying they felt the devices would neither be helpful nor improve safety.

Fast forward to 2016, and now it seems we will be forced to buy a product we cannot afford. Except now the price has gone up to $1,200 per unit. And, yes, that would be per truck.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

The upcoming election is certainly the hot topic around the country. But, given the seemingly
relentless legislative and regulatory attacks on truck drivers, this election
in particular has many wondering what any outcome holds.

In fact, this upcoming election and its effect on truckers
and trucking issues was a big topic of discussion during the OOIDA Board of
Directors meeting held at OOIDA HQ this past month.

The short-version answer delivered to the board was that
things rarely change much following a big election when it comes to trucking.

In addition to the obvious presidential election, a number
of key congressional seats that are up for grabs involve lawmakers serving on
committees overseeing trucking.

OOIDA Director of Legislative Affairs Jay Grimes reported
that a number of longtime lawmakers who have served in key posts on
trucking-related committees would be retiring at the end of the year. Names you
may recognize retiring from the Senate include Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.;
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Sen. David Vitter,
R-La.

In addition to those retirements, the OOIDA Government
Affairs team is monitoring the elections of nine lawmakers up for re-election
who currently serve on the powerful House of Representatives Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee.

“The issues for us don’t change much, regardless of who is
in office,” OOIDA Executive President Todd Spencer told board members in his
opening remarks. “On the regulatory front we are attacked by both sides. If we
want regulators to treat small-business truckers fairly, we will have to fight
to get that through to them.”

Monday, October 31, 2016

Halloween is the time of year when you can dress however you
want and talk about the occult without people questioning your sanity. This is
a good time, therefore, to bring up the Psychic Highway.

As an avid reader, I always read a book related to the
occult or monsters, a horror novel, or something related in October. This year,
I’m reading “Occult America” by Mitch Horowitz. I came across a chapter titled
“The Psychic Highway” that might change your perspective of U.S. Route 20.

A 3,365-mile stretch of highway connecting both coasts in
the northern section of the country, US 20 is the longest road in the nation. Clearly
the highway is essential for the movement of freight, but in the 18th and 19th
century, the route (before it was a highway) was essential for the movement of
ideas – more specifically, spreading the word of mystical religions.

In the early 19th century, western and central New York was known
as the “burned-over district.” Coined by Charles Grandison Finney in his 1876
autobiography, the
term refers to an area during the Second Great Awakening that was so
evangelized as to have no “fuel” (unconverted population) left over to “burn”
(convert).

The Second Great Awakening was a sweeping religious movement
that enrolled millions of converts. It used the power of mysticism and the
supernatural to appeal to unconverted parties. During this time, western and
central New York was virtually untouched in terms of religious clergy. With no
professional clergy to guide a population, the area was ripe for the picking
regarding spreading new and progressive ideas.

The Erie Canal connected the eastern and western ends of New
York state, allowing migrants with mystical and spiritual religions to access
the untapped land of unguided believers. In fact, historian Whitney Cross used
the term “psychic highway” to describe the Erie Canal. After all, it spread the
ideas of “psychic” mysticisms to the region.

Featured Post

When we started this little adventure into “blogging” 10 years ago, we didn’t quite know what would become of it. Over the years it’s grown...

Glad you stopped by

Tandem Thoughts is where the LL media team shares opinions, commentary, humor and candid discussion. We drop honesty bombs, we poke fun, we offer provocative analysis of news and events of interest to truckers. No topic is off limits. Be sure to subscribe or check back often. There's always something new to see.

Land Line Magazine official publication of OOIDA

Want to comment

To comment, click on the headline of the entry you want to comment on. On the bottom of the page you will then click on "Post a comment."

You DO NOT have to have an account to submit a comment, as we allow for anonymous comments. Either type in a nickname or click anonymous. Publish your comment and you're done.

Comments are moderated for profanity, topic relevance and spam. Moderation of posts occurs during normal business hours Monday-Friday.

Comments are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Land Line Magazine or OOIDA and are subject for consideration for inclusion in the magazine.